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I should have known better than to get too warm and fuzzy last week. It seemed like only a matter of minutes after hitting the “send” button on last week’s article about some of the good people I had noticed recently, than their polar opposites raised up from the bowels of hell to make their presence known.
It was one of those weeks where it seemed like everywhere I turned there was some numbskull doing something to irritate me. While I know they are always there, my encounters with these people are usually spread out, one every few days if I’m lucky. But this week it was like a parade or Mardi Gras with annoying little parasites waiting around every corner ready to ruin my day.
As soon as I leave the house the first assault hits me, that’s right, the bad drivers. I have been hoping that with the escalating gas prices, that the silver lining might be that their numbers might dwindle, but no such luck. If anything they appear to be breeding like rabbits or maybe just more people have adopted the mind set of “if you can’t beat them, join them.” I know I have beaten this horse to death in the past but until things change I feel compelled to drag out the carcass and give it a few more whacks.
Stop sign runners and non-signal turn users aside, there is one group of the driving handicapped that I want to see punished and punished bad. That would be the group who don’t understand the concept of pulling to the right when hearing a siren. I am sick of these morons who can’t execute the simplest of driving tasks and by not doing so they pose a triple treat to everyone on the road.
I’m sure the emergency personnel, i.e.; the sheriffs, fire department, and paramedics are even sicker of it than I am, but it just makes me crazy every time it happens. During this last week alone I have witnessed it four times.
To be honest, I don’t know if you can classify it solely as bad driving. In many instances it is nothing more than a callous and rude disregard for the personnel who are trying to get to the people who need them. These people are either on their cell phones or don’t want to miss the light they are waiting at, damn the people who are in need. Trust me when I say that if it were their parents or family member that was injured, or it was their house burning down, they would be pulling their dumb asses to the right, toot sweet.
There are definitely some people who obviously missed that portion of driver’s training. Either way, something needs to be done to educate the perpetrators to the error of their ways. This may be a tad difficult considering that the police that are nearby are usually en route to the same emergency as the fire and paramedics. Maybe they should have the motorcycle cops bring up the rear to issue citations as they go along. That might drive home the point and educate the stupid. Better yet, why not organize a citizen vigilante force, like the Minutemen, to follow the fire trucks and paramedics and do nothing but issue citations?
Once out of my car, I begin encountering the next contestants in the let’s annoy the public contest, the people on the other side of the retail counter who don’t want to be there. I can only assume that they don’t want to be there by the way they treat their customers, well their employer’s customers. I believe if their employers knew how badly they treated their customers they wouldn’t be there very long.
Most of us aren’t in love with our jobs, that’s just the way of the world. Finding a job that you don’t mind going to everyday is a major feat in itself, if you find one that you love, count your blessings. But if you don’t like the one you’ve got, don’t take it out on the rest of us. Go find another one.
There are certain places we all have to shop at, and all we want to do is get in and get out unscathed. We do not leave home with a list that includes “annoy the checker,” although many of you seem to think, or at least act like, that’s the case. So when I go to Sav-On to pick up a couple of things, the last thing I need is attitude. Unfortunately, I have received it in abundance of late.
There have been times that I have dreaded walking up to the counter to make my purchase because a certain checker is there. It is not as though I have any choice in the matter. If they ever have more than one checkstand open at a time, it’s a cause for celebration. It’s not just Sav-On. It seems that all the commercial drug chains have adopted a minimalist approach to their staffing. On the rare occasion when they have a second checker, it’s because they really are in need of a third.
Maybe this is why most of their checkers have such a sour attitude, or possibly they have just been having a bad day. If it is the latter, a couple of them must have been having a bad year. But these checkers are obviously in the wrong job. They need something, in say, the janitorial industry where dealing with people is not part of the job.
I’m not saying that everyone needs to be the king of customer service like a couple of the people that I mentioned last week. It would be nice, but all I am asking for is civility. Despite what is going on in your life, put it on hold until you punch out, and fake politeness while you are behind the counter. Even though you give off the vibe that you are doing me a favor by taking my money and selling me the products I came in for, it’s really the other way around. If you don’t believe me, ask your boss. I’m sure he or she would be glad to explain it to you.
Trust me, with gas prices continuing to rise, people are changing their lifestyles quickly, especially those driving SUV’s. So unless you want to start pushing a broom in the heat instead of standing behind a counter at an air-conditioned drug store, you better do a little better job at playing the game.
If not, would you be willing to do a little driving and write a few citations?
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